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Shabby Shoe Cubby

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We call this baby the “Shoe Cube”

I love shoe cubes.
I have them in almost ALL the closets in our house.

This one sits in the mud room.
And while I love how organized it is,
the white melamine board is a little too “cubical” for me.

Unfortunately, I’m not skilled enough yet to build my own,
(though I have someday plans)
But, I wondered if there wasn’t something that could be done to
personalize this thing a bit more until I figure out how to use a jigsaw.

So here’s what I came up with:

I used the same supplies as with the Mud Room Shelf,
and the wood is some scrap wood I got out of the cheap bin at Home Depot.

I just (hand) sawed it all to size and
used liquid nails to glue it to the top.

If I did it over again, I would go 1/2 larger so there would be a lip around the edges.

I also decided that I should do the stool, and that turned out super cute as well.

I tried to make it as shabby as I could.

I’m loving the way it looks in the laundry/mudroom,
makes me want to spend more time in there.

Sorta.


Shabby Chic Mud Room Shelf

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Okay.

First of all.

I need to state that before I actually MADE this,
I spent THREE months trying to BUY this instead.

I needed a Mud Room Shelf,
and I had a small list of requirements:

I wanted one that was made out of REAL WOOD

This shelf had to be heavy duty.
Four kids.
Activities with crazy amounts of gear.
A gazillion winter jackets.
Maybe even a special place for my crazy heavy purse?
(seriously what ever happened to REAL WOOD?)

I also wanted LOTS of hooks.
At least 6.
2 or 3 just isn’t going to cut it around here.
Ideally I’d have 12,
but I only have room for about 6,
so that is the magic number.

And of course I wanted it to MATCH.
 I adore shabby, rustic, and muted colors.
Too much color and not enough reflecting light just makes my head hurt.

So after months of searching with no luck,
I grudgingly went to my favorite DIY blog Shanty 2 Chic.
I was only hesitant because I’ve never actually “built” anything before.
(napkin holders in 8th grade shop class don’t count)

But after my initial building butterflies,
I did a simple search and found exactly what I was looking for:

Isn’t it beautiful!
And the tutorial was SHORT and SIMPLE and I KNEW what most of the supplies were.

To make an already long story short:
I made two of them!

And it really wasn’t hard at all!
(read: I spent ALL day struggling with this project, while my children ran rampant in the yard and by the time we came in for dinner they looked like starving chimney urchins and I made them eat their pizza in the bathtub.)

Super Easy.

So yeah, in all honesty:
My feet hurt.
My knees hurt.
I have a power drill blister.
I’m covered in paint.
But I feel great because….

This is a piece of furniture.
And I made it!
And it only cost me about $55/shelf.
FOR REAL WOOD PEOPLE.

It’s hard to tell in the pictures,
but these shelves are FIVE feet long and about TEN inches tall.
They are massive.

I love them to pieces.
 I loved the white shelf so much that I put it by the front door.
I cannot wait to decorate this each season!

And here’s a shot of my totally awesome Mud Room Shelf:

Here’s a more honest shot
from the other side of the room:

Just keeping it real people…..

If you’re interested here are the products I used:

Rustolem Heirloom White Spray Paint (white shelf)
Behr Aged Jade Flat Paint (blue/green shelf)
Minwax Walnut Wood Stain
Antique Gray acrylic paint on Martha Steward stencils.
Bird Poop (Jacobean Wax)

Besides using different colors and hooks,
I also got a much thicker piece of casing.
This was a mistake on my part, but I actually love the dimension it adds.

Now….I wonder what I should build next?